Running head: HOMELESSNESS

8 November 2015
The Issues of Homelessness and How They Relate to Orange Is The New Black and Rent Draft
#4
Andrew Dickerson
University of Northern Iowa

There are many similarities and differences between the book Orange Is the New Black
and the play Rent. Many of these subjects can be relatable to everyday people and the society
they live in. Some of the issues and subjects the two stories relate to one another are sexuality,
HIV and AIDS, sense of belonging, abuse of power, and homelessness to name a few.
Homelessness is a major issue that needs to be fixed in order to reduce the poor and prison
populations because it creates class differences, bad images for societies, and in many cases
homelessness can lead to crime. It needs to be known that homelessness is a problem that needs
to be fixed and not just another problem to be shoved under the rug.
Within both Orange Is the New Black and Rent the authors used rhetorical concepts to
help the reader understand, trust, and relate to the characters as they interact with their settings
and plots. Logos is used as a means of persuading by using reasoning. A logical argument can
also be referred to as a trait of Logos. Ethos is used for more of an ethical appeal or credibility.
The author tries to make himself credible towards the reader with the use of Ethos. Pathos is used
as a means of persuading through emotional appeal. The reader responds emotionally and
experiences a deeper connection.

HOMELESSNESS
Within Orange Is the New Black it is mentioned (name of pipers friend who calls about
living back on the outside) talks to Piper about the difficulties of living in a halfway house, a
house where recently released prisoners are sent after release to get back on their feet. The friend
tells Piper of major difficulties living on the outside creates, with no structure of daily prison
routines and life, the friend is having a difficult time adjusting to the free world.
One of the major issues between Orange Is the New Black and Rent is Homelessness.
Homelessness is huge within the United States, and many homeless people either end up in
prison, become homeless from being locked away for so long, some may be born into poverty
and homelessness, and still others may have a home but could soon face a future with no home at
all. This is very prevalent in both Orange Is the New Black and Rent, it just takes a bit of
thinking to figure out why the issue was even mentioned by the authors because homelessness
isnt the major issue in their stories. It is just a less prevalent issue in both of these stories.
Within Rent which revolves around the issues of squatters, drug use, and sexuality;
homelessness can still be seen. Towards the beginning when it was mentioned that Ben, the
landlord, was threatening to shut down Mark and Rodgers home. This is a direct threat toward
Mark and Rodger for the potential of being homeless. Homelessness is also mentioned in the
play several times with Bens commands to have a local protest against homelessness be called
off that was being organized by Maureen, he threatens to call the cops and this is done to no avail
throughout the story.
Many people in prison end up homeless because of how long theyve been in the federal
system. Characters like Pop in Orange Is the New Black have been serving a very considerable
sentence. Piper mentions this in her book to convey a sense of emotion or the use of Pathos. She
really wants to express the feeling that many prisoners have before they are going to be released,

HOMELESSNESS
especially prisoners that have served longer sentences. After the inmate has served his or her
sentence there is often no other place for them to go afterwards, sure the prison in Orange Is the
New Black does have a release program to get prisons ready for the outside world and halfway
house program for prisoners that are in need of a place to stay are get their footing before they
get back into things before they had to serve their time. are even a thing for former prisoners to
go to and try to get back on their feet. But even after they go through the program and the
halfway house many former prisoners have no idea what to do.
People who start out homeless can also end up in prison too, sometimes for the best.
People starting out homeless may just be trying to get by with what little means they have, and
some may even resort to criminal activities just to keep themselves or their families safe and
cared for. Others may not have anywhere else to turn and therefore result to criminal activities
such as drug use, stealing. One of the most common crimes for homeless people are property
crimes, which in essence is living on a property which they do not own or do not pay rent on.
Homeless inmates were also more likely to have a past criminal history of all types of crimes,
especially property crimes, for which rates were approximately 16% higher for the homeless
inmates (Greenberg & Rosenheck, 2008). This correlation in homelessness and property crimes
can also be related to Rent. Most notably when police officers arrive to a homeless woman
sleeping on the ground they proceed to poke her with their night sticks trying to make her move
from the premise all as Mark, the film maker, films the scene (Rent. 1.17.1-24).
Its a wonder why so many people are homeless because of the governments and societies
tendency to ignore these types of problems. The governments and societies blind eye can be
seen in Orange Is the New Black with the way in which prisoners are treated after they get out of
prison, sure they may get to a halfway house and be given resources to help them get back on

HOMELESSNESS
their feet, but these resources will eventually run out, and then what? These ex-convicts really
have nowhere else to go except to fall back into the rut of ruin and continue to commit acts that
will eventually lead back to homelessness for many of them.
This rut can also be evident in the setting of Rent. Even though the main characters arent
in fact homeless the threat still looms over them. The issue of homelessness is actually seen
much more clearly when homeless people actually appear in the storyline. This is very obviously
seen when Mark starts to film a homeless lady being harassed by police officers as she tries to
catch up on her sleep under a newspaper. The police officers reactions to the lady really show
how the government just turns a blind eye, they only tell her to move and treat her like the scum
of the earth, not giving one second of thought to actually help the individual. Because of this
unkindness the lady responds the Mark filming her with bitter distaste telling him in essence to
get lost.
Later throughout the play even more distaste can be seen by the homeless population
when they sign a joyful Christmas song but with their own unique snarks and gestures to indicate
their true displeasure for the holiday.
Both authors of Orange Is the New Black and Rent wrote their respected works most
likely because of their personal experiences and how they relate to the characters stories. Piper
Kerman, the author of Orange Is the New Black, tells her story of being imprisoned in a
minimum security womens prison and really exposes the corruption in the federal justice
system, even though she may have had an altered view of reality because of her ethnic
background and hasnt ever really had to deal with homelessness like perhaps many others
prisons in the prison system.

HOMELESSNESS
Jonathan Larson, the author of Rent, really connected many of his experiences to his
masterpiece of a play. He lived in similar situations and could relate very well to the characters
he created. Larson was really trying to bring forward the hush issues of the 90s, the issues of
homelessness, AIDS, sexuality, drugs, and many more. He was trying to make these issues more
known and perhaps even get a societal acceptance for these issues to be fixed and accepted.
In all honesty there are many issues connecting Orange Is the New Black with Rent,
many of these issues are very obvious because they play directly into the story line such as
sexuality. But some issues are a side issue to the actual plots of the stories such as homelessness.
Homelessness isnt brought forward in either story but it can be implied with how prisoners get
into prison and where they may end up after prison in Orange Is the New Black. Homelessness is
also seen as an issue that governments have to deal with but usually do not and the threat of
living without a home is always looming over the poorer class as seen in Rent.
Bibliography:
Greenberg, Greg A., and Robert A. Rosenheck. "Homelessness in the State and Federal Prison
Population." OneSearch! Rod Library, 1 June 2008. Web. 5 Nov. 2015.
Rent. By Jonathan Larson. UNI Strayer-Wood Theatre, Cedar Falls. 29 Oct. 2015. Performance.